A Texas former substitute teacher is charged a year after a mother reported him to police for allegedly attempting to groom her teenage daughter.
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25-year-old Joshua Hockless was charged with online solicitation of a minor and was released on a $40,000 bail last week. According to ABC 13, Hockless was a substitute teacher for Goose Creek CISD and was assigned to Edward Franklin Green Junior School. He allegedly followed the teen on Instagram in September 2022. She notified her mother about Hockless’ disturbing messages when he allegedly sent a video of himself fully naked in front of a mirror. He reportedly asked the teen to send him similar photos.
The teen’s mother also said Hockless wanted to take her daughter shopping because he made “good money”: “The way he went about it. ‘I can treat you better than your parents. Let me take you shopping.’ Like, that is straight grooming. ‘I got money. I make good money. Do your parents have cameras? Can I come over?,'”
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Other teachers complained about Hockless because their female students would skip class to hang out in his classroom.
After receiving the messages, the woman and her daughter decided to continue the conversation with Hockless without sending him any photos so they could provide evidence to Baytown police. It took investigators several months to charge Hockless despite the woman giving evidence about his behavior. She was also concerned because Hockless is the son of a Baytown police officer. However, investigators said the suspect’s father was not involved.
The case was transferred to Harris County High Tech Crimes, and Hockless worked as a substitute teacher for Pasadena ISD before the investigation. He was terminated from the school district after police notified administrators about his case.
He is facing a third-degree felony for the alleged lewd acts, and if convicted, he could serve between two to ten years in prison. The woman says her daughter has a protective order against Hockless and doesn’t want a similar situation to happen to another teen. “There’s a protective order for my child but, I guess once I know that he is a registered person and he don’t get around any more little girls, then I will be OK,” she told the outlet.
Social media also reacted to the disturbing case as educators are expected to help children, not prey on them. “Girrrrl like why does a minor even turns you on??? And i bet he’s done this to MULTIPLE students. Just got caught with this one,” one user wrote on under a post by Saycheesetv on X.
“Remember that guy who tweeted “maybe being a teacher isn’t a bad idea after all” under a picture that had four school kids? Then someone replied with “perpetrators will always put themselves in environments where there are potential victims” (something along those lines…)”
“Why couldn’t he just do allll that with a grown woman ?!?”
“Nasty guy, thinking he’s got money as a teacher…and a substitute at that”
Prosecute him to the full extent of the law! All that EVIDENCE and cops just sat there…smdh..YUCK…